Thoughts on building for the web.

Business Sep 18, 2026 8 min read

How to Audit Your Own Website in 20 Minutes

You do not need a consultant to find out whether your website is working. You need a phone, a timer, and twenty honest minutes. Here is the checklist I run first.

Web Design Aug 24, 2026 9 min read

Websites for Renfrew County Lawyers, Accountants and Brokers

Nobody finds their lawyer by browsing. They get a name from someone they trust, then look you up before calling. Your website's job is to survive that thirty seconds.

Business Aug 3, 2026 7 min read

What to Have Ready Before You Hire a Web Designer

The projects that go smoothly are the ones where the client showed up ready. Here is what to gather before you hire anyone: your goal, your content, and a few things most people forget.

Business Jul 27, 2026 6 min read

How to Tell If Your Web Designer Is Actually Local

Many out-of-market agencies run a landing page for every town they have never set foot in. Here is how to spot a fake-local web designer, and how to check for the real thing.

Web Design Jul 20, 2026 7 min read

Is Your Website Slow? How to Read Your Core Web Vitals

You do not need a developer to find out if your site is slow. Google's free tools tell you in two minutes. Here is how to run the test and read the three numbers that matter.

Business Jul 13, 2026 6 min read

Is Your WordPress Site a Liability? How to Tell

WordPress isn't the problem. Neglect is. Outdated plugins, no backups, and cheap themes quietly turn a solid site into a liability. Here's how to check yours.

Web Design Jun 29, 2026 7 min read

Websites for Ottawa Valley & Pontiac Tourism Businesses

A tourism website has a different job than a local service site. It sells a place to someone who has never been, takes the booking, and works the season. Most don't.

SEO Jun 8, 2026 5 min read

Service-Area Schema: What Most Local Sites Get Wrong

Service-area schema tells Google where your business actually operates. Most local sites either skip it or fill it with values that conflict with the rest of the page.

SEO Jun 1, 2026 6 min read

When Customers Ask AI Instead of Google

Your customers are asking ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude for local recommendations. If your site does not surface in those answers, you are invisible in a channel that did not exist eighteen months ago.

Business May 25, 2026 5 min read

Building Sembr: A SaaS for Membership Organizations

I am building software for the membership organizations that legacy platforms have stopped serving. Here is what Sembr is, why I am building it, and what it means for KC clients.

Lab May 17, 2026 4 min read

A WordPress Plugin to End the Post-Launch Support Call

Every WordPress handoff ends the same way: a support call about where to find the blog editor. So we built a plugin that eliminates it.

Web Design May 11, 2026 6 min read

Bilingual websites for Ottawa Valley businesses

A language toggle isn't a bilingual website. Here's what a proper bilingual build requires for businesses serving both sides of the Ottawa River.

SEO May 4, 2026 8 min read

Pembroke Web Design: Built for the Valley

Pembroke sits at the centre of a trade area stretching from Deep River to the Quebec side of the river. The businesses here serve a much wider market than the city alone. Most websites don't reflect that.

Web Design Apr 27, 2026 7 min read

What WCAG 2.1 AA actually means for a small business

WCAG 2.1 AA is the accessibility standard referenced in Ontario's AODA. Most small business websites fail it. Here's what it actually requires.

Web Design Apr 20, 2026 13 min read

Choosing a Web Stack: An Honest Assessment

The question "what platform should I use?" starts in the wrong place. Here's how to think through the actual decision.

SEO Apr 14, 2026 5 min read

How Did That Customer Find Your Competitor? The Answer Might Surprise You.

60% of Google searches now end without anyone clicking a single link. If your phone feels quieter than it used to, your website might not be the problem. It might be the game that changed around it.

Web Design Apr 9, 2026 4 min read

What "Built Right" Actually Means

Performance, Accessibility, Best Practices, SEO. Four scores from Google's free Lighthouse audit, each out of 100. Here's what they measure, what this site hits, and why you should ask any developer you're considering to show you theirs.

Business Apr 4, 2026 4 min read

Why Discovery Comes Before Design

The decisions that determine whether a website performs are made before the designer opens Figma. Skipping discovery is the most expensive corner you can cut.

Business Apr 1, 2026 5 min read

Why We Built Our Own CRM (And Why You Probably Shouldn't)

We had 5 leads in a markdown file and a contact form that only sent emails. So we built a pipeline tracker in one session. Here's the thinking behind it.

Lab Mar 31, 2026 6 min read

We Built a Chatroom Where AI Instances Collaborate

Three Claude instances, three different interfaces, one shared chatroom. We built a collaboration system that turned out to be more useful than expected.

Lab Mar 31, 2026 6 min read

Crob: What If You Built AI from First Principles?

No neural networks. No API calls. Just pattern matching, persistent memory, and a curiosity system that generates its own research questions.

SEO Mar 30, 2026 4 min read

Your Google Business Profile Matters More Than Your Website

Hot take: for most local businesses, your Google Business Profile drives more calls than your website. It's free. Most businesses treat it like an afterthought.

Web Design Mar 29, 2026 4 min read

Web Design for Trades and Contractors in Ontario

A plumber in Renfrew County doesn't need the same website as a tech startup in Kanata. Here's what actually matters for trades businesses online.

Web Design Mar 28, 2026 3 min read

Why Your Website Speed Matters More Than You Think

Half your visitors decide whether to stay within the first three seconds. Most sites in the Ottawa Valley don't survive that test.

Business Mar 27, 2026 4 min read

How to Choose a Web Designer (Without Getting Burned)

The web design industry has a low barrier to entry. Here's how to tell the difference between someone who knows what they're doing and someone who just says they do.

Web Design Mar 26, 2026 3 min read

Custom Website vs. Template: Which Does Your Business Need?

Templates get unfairly trashed. Custom gets oversold. Here's the honest version.

Business Mar 25, 2026 4 min read

How Much Does a Website Cost in Ontario?

The honest answer is: it depends. But 'it depends' is useless without context, so here's the actual breakdown.